Kodak Panoram

No.3A Panoram Kodak

The Kodak Panoram camera was a roll-film swing-lens panoramic camera made in Rochester, New York, USA by Eastman Kodak between 1899 and 1928.

Background

While panoramic cameras had been developed as early as Friedrich Martens' construction of his Megaskop-Kamera in 1845,^[1] they became broadly accessible only in the 1890s, a major obstacle was the use of flat glass plates being incompatible with the design of such cameras (though Martens devised curved Daguerreotype plates in his camera with a rotating lens, their display is made difficult by their shape).

This technical impasse was resolved with the invention of roll film in the 1880s. Eder^[2] notes that "It was not until the invention of the flexible silver bromide films that [the panoramic camera] achieved the great success which it merits. The prototype of the Kodak Panoram camera, introduced with commercial success in 1900, is easily seen at first sight. The Kodak Panoram camera permits an instantaneous exposure over an extensive field of vision by an analogous turning of the lens and by a slit shutter passing in front of the film."

It was first shown at the Exposition in Paris, 1900.^[3] In the year prior to the invention of Kodak's camera, the first mass-produced American panoramic camera, the Al-Vista, was introduced in 1898. In 1907, the German Ernemann company developed a "panorama-in-the-round camera" (Panorama-Rundkamera) with a 360-degree viewing angle.^[4]

Design

The design of the Panorama was patented by Kodak Brownie designer Frank A. Brownell^[5] and released as a series of models.^[6][7][8][9] It was about the size of a shoe-box and could be hand-held for shooting landscapes,^[10] and Kodak described it as "a camera of few parts. Its operation is very simple and good pictures will be obtained from the beginning."^[11]

The Panorama No.1 had a swinging Goerz Dagor lens housed in a light-proof leather tube which projected the image progressively during its scan onto flexible 120 films,^[12] held against a back plate curved to match the trajectory of the lens. Focus was fixed and the camera intended to render objects sharp only if over 7m (20 feet) into the scene.^[11] The swinging mechanism through which the image was transmitted by a rear slit, and with the lens tube not pointing at the film at either end of its travel; were mechanisms that constituted the shutter, which had two settings; "fast" and "slow", the latter being used for most situations except for "views at the seashore, on the water, and for very distant views when the sunlight is unusually bright."^[11]

A fold-down door covered the lens when not in use, except on Model 4. The framing was achieved using a brilliant finder mounted centrally on the top-front edge - some with a cover providing a mirror for eye-level use, supplemented by V-shaped sighting lines across the top of the camera. A spirit level at the viewfinder aligned the shot with the horizon line. The No.1 captured 120º field of view, and produced negatives^[13] 5.71 cm H x 17.78 cm W .^[14] Model 3A used the 6-exposure 122-sizedfilm roll for 3 shots and the 10-exposure roll for 5. The No.4 encompassed 142º on size 103 negatives,^[15] each frame being 8.89 cm H x 30.48 cm W.^[16]

Pricing

At the turn of the century Fred E. Munsey & Co in Los Angeles was advertising Panoram models at US$8 and US$26 for No.1 and No.4 Panoram models respectively (equivalent to about $252.26 and $819.86 in 2021);^[17] little more expensive than the Folding Pocket Kodaks. In the United Kingdom in 1913 "Universal Providers" William Whitely Ltd., of Queens Rd in London offered the No.1 model at £2 10 0, and the No.4 £3 10 0 (£297.40 in 2020) and described the camera;

Takes marvelously realistic pictures of broad stretches of landscape and seascape, open spaces in cities, squares. etc. Large groups of people, reviews, regattas, etc.. are all most vividly recorded by the Panoram Kodak. When held vertically, most artistic panel pictures are obtainable, such as waterfalls, and mountains. etc. Simplicity itself. Loaded and Unloaded in Daylight.^[18]

Users

Anthony Fiala (March 1905) 82 N. Latitude, panorama shot during the unsuccessful Ziegler polar expedition of 1903-1905

Alexander Iyas (c.1901–1911) Iyas and his Cossack Escort, Turbat-i Haydari, photographed with Kodak Panoram camera

Melvin Vaniman (1904) Panorama of Sydney from a balloon

Being portable and simple in operation, with the added advantage of storing a number of panoramas on a film roll, the Panoram was quickly taken up by innovative photographers for both recording and artistic purposes.

Charles J. Kleingrothe's turn-of-the-century photographs of Sumatran Dutch East Indies were made with the Panoram, and are considered key visual records of colonial Peninsular Malaya, especially of its tin-mining and rubber industries.^[19] Anthony Fiala (1869-1950) depicted the 1901 Baldwin Ziegler Expedition and Ziegler Polar Expedition of 1903-5 efforts to be the first to reach the North Pole; his images are taken with large format still cameras and the then new Kodak No. 1 Panoram camera.^[20][21]

The Finn, Alexander Ivanovitch Iyas, the Tsar's consul in Persia 1901–1914, photographed the region, and on 26 February 1904 used the Panoram to photograph the arrival of the Carnegie Institute Expedition to Eastern Persia. He was shot and beheaded in an attack by Turkish troops on 29 December 1914 and by coincidence, at the battle of Sufyan, on a fallen Turkish officer were found Iyas's negatives, which were sent to Iyas's mother. In 1915 Vladimir Minorsky organised a small exhibition of his photographs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St Petersburg. His work remained forgotten for a century.^[22]

The panoramic camera was used in the 1921 reconnaissance of Mount Everest;^[23] also by Pictorialist and postcard publisher Robert Vere Scott; and by adventurers like Melvin Vaniman, and archaeologist Hiram Bingham III.^[24] Bingham, having first seen Machu Picchu in 1911, for his 1912 expedition wrote to George Eastman, who was to supply his photographic equipment;

...it would be extremely advisable to have one Panoram Kodak in the outfit ... Can you give me some advice on this? ... In many of the deep canyons where we are expecting to work, it needs a Panoram Kodak to show the opposite side of the mountain up to the top .... If you can give us three new 3A Specials, and one No. 4 Panoram we shall have nine Kodaks in the outfit and ought to be well equipped for the scientific work that lies ahead of us.^[25]

In World War I, Ernest Brooks and Canadian official war photographer, the Daily Mirror photojournalist William Rider-Rider both used the Panoram No.4.^[26][27] Even at mid-century the Panoram was being used; Josef Sudek started photographing with it in 1948 after being given one as a gift from friends, and commissioned by Jan Řesáč to photograph Prague for a book, he produced his one of his most famous publications, Praha panoramaticka ("Prague Panoramic"), devoted to the format, though it was not published until 1959.^[28]

References

1. Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century photography. John Hannavy. New York: Routledge. 2008. ISBN 978-0-415-97235-2. OCLC 123968757.
2. Josef Maria Eder (1978), History of photographyPaperback, New York Dover Publications, ISBN 978-0-486-23586-8
3. Jahrbuch f. Phot., 1901, p. 159
4. Paeslack, M. (2019). Constructing Imperial Berlin: Photography and the Metropolis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
5. Brayer, Elizabeth (2006), George Eastman : a biography, University of Rochester Press, p. 84, ISBN 978-1-58046-247-1
6. US 693583, Brownell, Frank A., "Shutter for photographic cameras", published 1902-02-18, assigned to Eastman Kodak Co. 
7. US 699161, Forsheim, Joseph, "Panoramic camera", published 1902-05-06, assigned to Eastman Kodak Co. 
8. Price guide to antique and classic cameras, eleventh edition, 2001-2002. James M. McKeown, Joan C. McKeown (11th ed.). Grantsburg, Wis.: Centennial Photo Service. 2001. ISBN 0-931838-33-9. OCLC 46691269.
9. Coe, Brian (1978). Cameras : from Daguerreotypes to instant pictures. New York: Crown Publishers. pp. 171, 175. ISBN 0-517-53381-2. OCLC 3730724.
10. Emily J. Minor, "Then & Now", The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida) Sunday 24 Mar 1996, p.61
11. Eastman Kodak Company (1903). The Panoram-Kodak no. 4 : instruction book. Getty Research Institute. Rochester, N.Y. : Eastman Kodak.
12. "37 Photographic or cinematographic goods: United Kingdom". 2021. doi:10.1787/8d1c5074-en. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
13. Warren, Lyn (2006). Encyclopedia of twentieth-century photography. Lynne Warren. New York: Routledge. p. 1194. ISBN 978-0-203-94338-0. OCLC 190846013.
14. Scott, R. Vere (1901), Camels and men gather at the start of the expedition to survey the Trans-Australian Railway, retrieved May 1, 2021
15. Schnei, J. (1992). "Does your classic camera suffer from defunct-film-size syndrome? Not anymore". Popular Photography (00324582), 99(7), 30.
16. The photographic collector, Bishopsgate Press, 1982, pp. 150–151, ISSN 0260-5155
17. "$26 in 1900 → 2021 | Inflation Calculator". www.in2013dollars.com. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
18. William Whitely Ltd., Queens Rd London General Price List, Foreign Edition, Section II October, 1913. (1913). United Kingdom, p. 1121
19. Tan, B. (2010). Early Tourist Guidebooks: The Illustrated Guide to the Federated Malay States. BiblioAsia.
20. Siebel, Heddi Vaughan (2020). "Anthony Fiala: The First Films of the Polar Regions, 1901–1905". Film History: An International Journal. 32 (4): 91–118. doi:10.2979/filmhistory.32.4.04. S2CID 235019658. Project MUSE 780979.
21. Fiala, Anthony (December 2012). "Myhre's Tomb on Cape Saulen". Harvard Review (43): 141–142. Gale A323146190.
22. Rhodes, Fred (October 2006). "Images from the Endgame: Persia Through a Russian Lens 1901-1914". The Middle East (371): 65–66. Gale A152761612.
23. Mallory, George Leigh (February 1922). "Mount Everest: The Reconnaissance". The Geographical Journal. 59 (2): 100–109. doi:10.2307/1781387. JSTOR 1781387.
24. Thomson, Hugh (July 2011). "Finding the Lost City: this month marks the 100th anniversary of Hiram Bingham's 'discovery' of Machu Picchu. Hugh Thomson tells the tale of how a US explorer and academic came to uncover one of the greatest architectural achievements of pre-Columbian civilisation". Geographical. 83 (7): 46–52. Gale A262883326.
25. Cox Hall, Amy (2017). Framing a Lost City. doi:10.7560/313671. ISBN 978-1-4773-1369-5.^{[page needed]}
26. Carmichael, Jane (1989). First World War photographers. Oxfordshire. ISBN 978-1-136-09276-3. OCLC 1059513883.
27. Grimshaw, V. (July 30, 2017). Hero who showed war's true horror. The People ProQuest 1924333147
28. Josef Sudek (1959) Praha panoramaticka. Prague: Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury, hudby a umění, Orbis

Further reading

• G. Bapst, "Essai sur l'histoire des panoramas et des dioramas, extrait des rapports du jury international de l'Exposition universelle de 1889, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1889. Gabriel Cromer, "Quelques epreuves et documents relatifs a 1'histoire de la photographie panoramique," Bulletin de la Société frangaise de photographie, June 1930.
• G. Glanfield, "A Short History of Panoramic Cameras," The Photographic Collector, vol. 3, no. 2, Autumn 1982. Panoramas. Collection Bonnemaison. Photographies 1850-1950, Arles, Espace Van Gogh, juillet-septembre 1989, Actes-Sud, 1989.
• Meehan, Joseph; Edkins, Diana (1990), Panoramic photography, AMPHOTO, ISBN 978-0-8174-5349-7
• Grey Art Gallery & Study Center (1977), Panoramic photography : [exhibition], Grey Art Gallery & Study Center, New York University Faculty of Arts and Science, New York, New York, The Gallery, retrieved May 10, 2021
• Mellen, Geo. E. (George Egbert) (1897), Panoramic photography, or, How to make two or more adjoining negatives and print all on one sheet of paper without showing the joining line, Times Print. Co, retrieved May 10, 2021
• Sweetman, John (John E.); Bayer, Jonathan, 1936-; Brandon, Taylor; John Hansard Gallery (1981), The Panoramic image, John Hansard Gallery, the University, ISBN 978-0-85432-211-4
• Moëssard, Paul (1885), Le cylindrographe, Librarie Ch. Delagrave, retrieved May 10, 2021

External links

• Eastman Kodak Company (1903) The Panoram-Kodak no. 4 : instruction book, Publisher Rochester, N.Y. : Eastman Kodak, at Internet Archive